Homeward Bound
by YoungestThunderbird
Summary: Selek, until recently named Spock, has seem much and done much, but his time is ending and he is heading towards home. AU, happyish ending. K for character death. I tweaked the last sentence, it was bugging me.


Note: this is AU. The Next Generation episode Relics did not happen. I also messed with the timeline, and made Chekov Sulu's First Mate.

Selek, or Spock, as he still privately thought of himself, sat on a sand dune and watched his hovercraft speed away. He slowly sat down in the sun and thought to himself about the choices that brought him here, to this particular piece of desert on New Vulcan.

(If he lapsed into un-Vulcanly emotion here, who was there to judge but the rocks?)

...

The many years of space exploration he had the privilege to live had taken a toll on him. All of the unknown toxins, strange spores, and simply being knocked unconscious too many times had taken a toll on his body- and the radiation he had been subjected to during his transit during the wormhole had not helped things. His doctors had given him a week. He, himself, knew that he had only hours, maybe a day at most. He had gathered his things, made a will, and left his small house at the outskirts of the colony with little ceremony. He had few people to say goodbye to, as he felt like an outsider in this small, strange colony in this large, strange universe that was at the same time familiar and different. If he had had a human heart, it would have hurt.

(Who was he fooling. His heart hurt anyway, human or no.)

...

He looked down on the object held in his hand, a rather dented and battered Starfleet badge. It was not his first badge, and it was certainly not his last, but it was the badge he had been given when he had been promoted to First Mate of the Enterprise. It was at the promotion ceremony that he had met the human whirlwind James T. Kirk, and then the esteemed (Witch) Doctor McCoy. It represented his travels with them, his favorite star crew, and, eventually, his family. From the beauteous Lt. Uhura, to the young genius Chekov, to the "miracle worker" Scotty, to the swashbuckling Sulu, they had been his one constant in the universe. Until, as humans are wont to do, they left.

Sulu was first, and they were all happy for him, and made sure to see each other as much as they were able. Everything was fine until the Excelsior went missing in hostile space, with both Sulu and a newly promoted First Mate Chekov aboard. The Enterprise crew, long having been scattered to the winds, were the staunchest searchers, until a shuttle piloted by Kirk found the remains of the upper disc in a nebula. It was elected that the disc was to remain there as a memorial to the crew. Spock found it most illogical, but even he could not go against command. However, he may have assisted the rest of the Enterprise bridge crew in attaching a plaque to the hull, saying, "To the Swashbuckling Helmsman and everyone's favorite Russian Kid Genius: Don't raise too much hell until we get there. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home. From- the Bridge Crew. You know who we are."

Then Kirk disappeared, lost in space and presumed dead. Spock looked for him, too, but this time no one found the great captain. He jettisoned a pod into space with a plaque from Uhura, Scotty, and McCoy, saying, "Couldn't stand not exploring, could you? We would have helped you get demoted to captain again, if you really wanted. From- the Bridge Crew. Your loyal maniacs."

Scotty was killed in a transporter accident. At his grave, the remaining three of the Bridge Crew looked at each other and wondered who would be next. The plaque read: "To a miracle worker and loyal engineer. See if you can find the captain for us; who knows what trouble he's got into. From- the Bridge Crew. Yes, we still give you orders, we outrank you, get used to it."

Uhura was next. Some sort of cancer got her- of all the mundane things. Then again, she never was the type to go out with a bang, more like with a strongly worded letter. McCoy had been one of her physicians, but even he knew it was too late to save her. The plaque at her grave read "To the horrendously outnumbered female language specialist: Keep them out of trouble, please. No away missions allowed until we join you. From- the Bridge Crew. We still outnumber you." Uhura had long bemoaned being the only female aboard the Enterprise.

Finally, McCoy died in his sleep of old age. Spock, as the only one left, placed a plaque in the medbay of the most current Enterprise, hidden deep in the paneling, for the good doctor had chosen cremation. "To the Witch Doctor. Try not to be overwhelmed by your emotions and allow the captain out of your sight. We all know how the ends. From- the Bridge Crew. The last one of us."

(He ignored the fact that he needed over twenty tries to get the message right. Not very logical, but he was allowed to lapse now and then.)

...

Later, much later, after even Joanna had joined her father, he heard of Captain Kirk, rising from the dead to save the Enterprise once again. He made another plaque, with only a short message: "We told you to keep out of trouble." He put it on top of the Captain's grave, after learning of the location from Captain Picard. Picard looked rather confused before hesitantly asking about other plaques, especially the one in the medbay. The Enterprise had run across them, he said, and added that each plaque had been copied, miniaturized, and put at the station it mentioned.

(Spock pretended not to look for them the next time he was called aboard the Enterprise.)

...

There was a nebula expanding toward Romulus. The Jellyfish was prepared, and Spock volunteered in the place of Ensign Hardings, who had a family. After all, he no longer had anyone. He was almost in time. However, that mining vessel was too close, so he had to change course abruptly to avoid them. The next thing he knew, he was hurtling through space and time.  
(It got harder to pretend not to feel when he heard of Romulus's fate.)

...

He resigned himself to life on the frozen planet, and finally felt his heart break when Vulan, that cacaphony of voices, was abruptly silent. He thought he was seeing ghosts when a young James Kirk was almost dated at his doorstep. One look at his eyes, however, told a different story. They were blue, not the hazel he remembered. In the next few hours, he saw and had trouble believing. When Nero was destroyed, he agreed to go to the Colony on New Vulcan. It was one of the few places that he didn't need to worry about changing history. He met Doctor McCoy and the rest of he Enterprise crew only once. McCoy's eyes were brown. He could not bear to look at the rest of their faces, and see what else was different and wrong.  
(if he heard just their voices, he could almost believe they were his crew.)

...

When he learned of his illness, he wrote a will, leaving his meager possessions to his neighbors, who were kind to him. They had thought that he had a broken mind becaue of Vulcan's destruction. He did not correct them. He left early in the morning, and programmed the hovercar to return to his dwelling. As far as most of New Vulcan would know, he was merely an old man who wandered off into the desert. They would search for him, of course, but they would not find him. It was better that way. The knowledge contained within his Katra was not for the ones in this world.

(He pretended that he didn't listen to the human part of him that no longer wished to be constrained in this torturous universe.)

...

He looked at his badge one last time, and sunk into a meditative trance. As the familiar darkness came over him, he distantly felt the tingle of a transporter.

(It was familiar, not like the cold ones they had in this galaxy. He pretended just for a moment that it was real, and not just one of the sensory hallucinations he had had over the past few days.)

...

He awoke in a transporter bay, with Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy looking at him expectantly. He was about to chide them for finding him when he saw that their eyes were hazel and blue.

(And if he lapsed into un-Vulcanly emotion here, who was there to judge but his family?)


End file.
